


Son of Odin

by chaostheoryy



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies), Thor: Ragnarok - Fandom
Genre: Brother Feels, Brothers, Eyepatch Obsession, Family Dynamics, Gen, Post-Ragnarok, Thor is the best brother Loki never asked for
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-18
Updated: 2017-12-18
Packaged: 2019-02-16 09:46:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13051506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chaostheoryy/pseuds/chaostheoryy
Summary: Having unleashed Ragnarok upon Asgard, Loki and Thor flee the destruction with their people aboard the Ark. In their travels, Loki becomes fixated on his brother's new accessory and decides to follow his curiosity...





	Son of Odin

**Author's Note:**

> A lovely anon on Tumblr requested a Thor and Loki on-shot with the dialogue prompt "I can explain". So here it is...

If that strange Midgardian saying about curiosity killing the cat were true, surely Loki would have been annihilated several times over. It was rather easy to peak his interest and three times as hard to make him forget about whatever it was that did so. In this case, it was the eyepatch that belonged to a particular brother of his.

After he and Thor had made the decision to unleash Ragnarok upon their home planet in order to thwart Hela, they and the Asgardian people managed to escape certain destruction aboard the ship Loki had so willingly stolen from Sakaar. It was there that Heimdall gifted his brother with an eyepatch to conceal the gaping wound left behind when Hela had brutally cut out Thor’s eye in the midst of their heated fight in the throne room -- an eyepatch that reminded Loki all to much of the father he had so carelessly left to die on Midgard.

Loki couldn’t help but stare in silence at Thor as his brother boomed with laughter at something Valkyrie had said. As he did so, Loki couldn’t help but think of Hela’s comment when the two sons of Odin first encountered her. “You don’t look like him,” she had noted of Thor when she discovered they were Odin’s children just as she was. But now, seeing Thor with the eyepatch, with that confident grin and king-like stance, Loki swore Hela would have easily changed her mind. But what of himself? He wasn’t Odin’s true child. He wasn’t even a true Asgardian yet Hela’s words echoed in his thoughts: “ _You_ sound like him.” It was something Loki just couldn’t shake. What if he, despite not truly being the son of the former Asgardian ruler, resembled their father? 

And so curiosity seized him. 

He waited patiently until Thor was fast asleep and slipped into his brother’s room. With the silence of a panther stalking its prey, he padded over to the vanity on the other side of the room where the eyepatch lay in wait. Loki gently picked it up and stared at it, admiring the intricacies of the golden inlays -- a perfect encapsulation of Asgardian design.

With a soft exhale, Loki fastened the small accessory over his right eye and glanced at his reflection in the mirror before him. What he saw in his reflection took the breath right out of his lungs. The man staring back at him was obviously himself, but not the version most people had come to know. This wasn't the God of Mischief or the dangerous villain who had unleashed an army upon Midgard -- this was Loki, proud Asgardian and beloved son of Odin.

“ _My son_...” Odin’s voice echoed through Loki’s head as he reached up and ghosted his fingertips over the eyepatch. A strong force tugged at his chest and consumed him with guilt as he thought about his past, about the mistakes he had made and the people he had hurt. He thought especially of Odin, of the father he had so foolishly denied and cast out. Odin had spent so many of his last moments cold and alone. All because of _him_.

“What are you doing?”

Loki snapped out of his thoughts just as he felt his eyes begin to water and turned to find Thor standing directly behind him. Startled, he stumbled backward into the vanity and tore the eyepatch from his face. 

“N-nothing!”

Thor furrowed his brow curiously upon noticing the accessory in his brother’s possession. “Why have you got my eyepatch?”

“I can explain,” Loki stammered, raising his hands in an odd sort of submission and forcing a smile. “I was just simply going to pull a silly old prank and hide it away somewhere and set you on a wild goose chase.” He chuckled awkwardly at his own poorly thought-up lie. “Oh, you know, classic God of Mischief.”

Thor narrowed his eye at his brother, very clearly not buying into Loki’s poor excuse for a charade. Loki bit his lip for a brief second before flashing Thor another cringe-worthy grin. “Well, I really must be going...”

He made an attempt to slip out of Thor’s way only to have his brother pluck the eyepatch out of his hand as he passed.

“He would be proud of you, y’know.”

Loki froze in his tracks at his brother’s words and turned to find Thor smiling softly at him. Loki’s eyes widened ever so slightly upon realizing Thor knew exactly what had brought him here, exactly why Loki had been fixated on that eyepatch.

Fear, embarrassment, and hesitation washed over him like a powerful ocean wave. He put on a smirk -- a natural defense mechanism to hide his true emotions. “I highly doubt that.”

Thor, on the other hand, just kept smiling, just kept staring right through his brother’s defenses. “Mmm... I’m pretty sure,” He said with absolute confidence. “Maybe even prouder than I.”

Loki felt as though his heart had stumbled violently in his chest and, judging by the knowing look in Thor’s brilliant blue eye, it was an impossible feat to keep his face from reflecting just how stunned he was. 

Loki struggled desperately to find the words to say to his brother that would either give him the chance to run away or, if he be damned, properly express what exactly he was feeling. But Thor, being the wise son of Odin he truly was and the devoted brother Loki never expected to find, knew exactly what Loki was thinking without so much as a breath of air. It only took a glance and they were on the same page.

Accepting Loki’s silence as the perfect explanation and knowing it wasn’t yet time for a thorough catharsis, Thor placed the eyepatch back on the vanity and headed back to his bed. “Goodnight, Loki,” he murmured with a smile.

Loki gazed at him in what could only be described as awe for a moment. Then, with the faintest of smiles, he bid Thor a good night and slipped out of the room.

As he made his way to his own quarters, Loki couldn't help but think back to his reflection. Perhaps the man he had gazed upon was not a version of himself he had foolishly thrown away but rather the self he would very soon become...


End file.
